12:15 PM PT -- College hoops reporter Gary Parrish joined Harvey and Charles on "TMZ Live" to break down the situation ... and he believes if Brandon Miller weren't one of the top players in the game, he would not be playing for Alabama right now.
"Players are suspended all the time for smoking weed, or missing curfew or skipping class," Parrish said Thursday.
"Brandon Miller, at the best version of this story, is a star basketball player who was driving around Tuscaloosa well after midnight with a loaded gun in his car," he added. "He arrived at a scene where an altercation was going down, and the gun that he brought to that scene was used to take the life of a 23-year-old woman."
"If you don't have a rule in your program that those actions violate, I don't know what type of program you're actually running."
Alabama Crimson Tide star, Brandon Miller had a career night on Wednesday ... dropping 41 points and scoring the game-winning overtime basket against South Carolina -- just one day after cops said he was connected to a murder case involving his now ex-teammate Darius Miles.
Miller's clearance to play in the SEC matchup was met with a ton of backlash ... with many questioning the decision to allow him on the court after police claimed he brought Miles his gun on Jan. 15, which was ultimately used to kill 23-year-old Jamea Harris.
Fans in attendance expressed their feelings loud and clear throughout the game ... chanting "lock him up," and "guilty" towards Miller.
Crowd at South Carolina vs Alabama is rowdy early on. Don’t think Brandon Miller is gonna have an easy night pic.twitter.com/SDj41OAp7R
— Cooper Hird (@HirdItHereHoops) February 23, 2023
Bama Athletics defended the decision to let him participate prior to the game ... saying, "Based on all the information we have received, Brandon Miller is not considered a suspect in this case, only a cooperative witness."
As for Miller's side of things, his attorney claimed in a statement he "never touched the gun, was not involved in its exchange to Mr. Davis in any way, and never knew that illegal activity involving the gun would occur."
Miller was not charged with a crime, but Miles and his friend, 20-year-old Michael Davis -- the one actually accused of pulling the trigger -- are both facing capital murder charges.
Bama, thanks to Miller's scoring, won the game 78-76.
Originally Published: 07:35 AM PT